Back in Touch

Hello Lovelies,

Well, so much has happened this past week. I don’t really know where to begin, because not only is it a long list but I’m still in a slightly confused frame of mind with the different time zones and I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you what happened on what day anyway.

So in no particular order here is an annotated list of some of what has happened over this past week:

• I had the pleasure (or not really) of experiencing the Hungarian health care system first hand – After trying to do everything myself the last 6 or 7 months and with all the craziness of packing and dragging ourselves halfway across the world, I got a little run down once things started to slow down. I guess everything just caught up with me at once. What started as a bit of a sore throat got even more serious quite quickly. I woke up the other morning feeling like I was being choked and my throat was so swollen I could only just swallow and also had a bit of trouble breathing. I honestly felt like something was stuck in my throat and had these horrible visions of some big blood clot or something that had taken up residence in my throat overnight. When I went to try and cough out whatever I was chocking on, it seemed to be stuck on the back of my tongue which made me choke even more and totally freak out too! After a trip to the GP clinic at the local hospital, it turns out it is *just* a throat infection. I say *just* but there’s a little more to it than that. My throat was so badly swollen that the thing I thought I was choking on was actually my uvula (you know the dangly thing at the back of your throat) that was so swollen that it was touching the back of my tongue and when I tried to cough it out it flipped forward and was lying along my tongue, choking me further until I had to forcibly (a very  painfully) swallow it back down. The good news is that I am feeling much better today (after some pretty hefty antibiotics and painkillers, these Hungarian doctors don’t mess around). The doctors at the hospital were very efficient, I only waited around ten minutes before seeing a doctor, they were also very kind and comforting as well, which I’ve found is often a rare combination. They took the time to explain and reassure me, they also spoke English to me reassuring me that everything was Okay and explain to me what had happened, even though my husband was there ready to translate if needed. Despite the delights of the Hungarian health system, it’s not something I would like to experience again, the feeling of choking on my own throat bits is not one I would like to repeat in the near future.
• Just finished unpacking, now we’re moving again – Yes, annoying as it sounds, it will be for the best. Even though we have only been in this apartment for 2 weeks and had only recently finished unpacking, we are moving again starting from tomorrow. So when I am finished writing this blog post and also started and finished my assignment (yes, I still haven’t done that, but I think choking on your uvula is a pretty good excuse this time), I will be packing up our 65 square metre apartment and moving our family of five to an apartment that is nearly 100 square metres. There are many reasons that we are leaving this apartment and not just because it is very small for a family of five. At first we saw the apartment as retro and quaint, it was built in the sixties and very much looks like it despite the near new Ikea furniture. This retro and quaint notion grew old rather quickly. We then began to see the apartment for what it really was: a small, old apartment with outdated appliances (the gas stove nearly blew up in my face), the tiniest washing machine that has a weird smell even after cleaning it, a bath that you have to wash before each use (as the washing machine drains into the bath), that gets stifling hot even though it’s cold outside (the central heating units can’t be adjusted as the tap handle things are either missing or don’t turn), that is constantly dirty and dusty due to the dirt and dust from the elevator shaft constantly finding its way in through every crack and vent in the place (seriously, I mop, dust and clean the whole apartment and by the time I’m done it’s filthy again), this constant influx of dust and dirt has also caused allergies in myself and the kids and finally lets not forget my favourite peeve about this apartment…. the toilet has a “poop deck”. Yes, you have read correctly, the toilet has what I like to refer to as a “poop deck”.  Let me take a moment to explain this intriguing and disgusting notion a little further.  After Googling, “My toilet has a poop deck wtf” the results explained that this toilet bowl (which is not the shape of toilet bowl I am used to seeing) is in fact an “inspection shelf” toilet bowl, which allows you to… well inspect your…. well you can guess what you might be inspecting, hence the reason why I refer to it as a “poop deck”. During my Google research in an attempt to explain the aforementioned “poop deck”, I did find an interesting post from a UK uni student studying in Europe, which clearly and humourously sums of what the purpose of “inspection shelf” toilet actually is —– Inspection Shelf Toilet WTF!
• Inspecting the new apartment – We traveled to the first district of Budapest, aptly referred to as Castle Hill, because, yup you guessed it, Buda Castle sits on top of the hill. This is very much a tourist district as it is home to not only Buda Castle but also many other tourist attraction such as the Citadel and the many vantage points up on the hills of this district provide stunning views across the Danube of the many bridges that cross the river and one of my sons favourite buildings – Parliament House. When we found the address we were meeting the real estate agent at, we were surprised to see that it is right in front of the Danube, when entering the apartment though we were even more surprised, pleasantly this time. Even though the building is old, it is not asbestos dust wielding elevator shaft old, it is much, much older than this. The building is made of stone, stone stairs, stone walls and super high ceilings, the apartment is furnished, mostly with gorgeous antique furniture and perhaps best of all, it has a full-sized bathroom and the toilet DOES NOT have a “poop deck”. Oh and one more small thing, this is the view….

  

  View of Parliament House. Image copyright The Writer Within 2015.

  So, now onto the reason for the title of today’s post. A wonderful thing happened to me this past week and it wasn’t finding a bigger apartment with an amazing view, although I think that had something to do with it. The night after we found the apartment, I settled down to try and get some sleep and my mind started racing. Yet it wasn’t the kind of thoughts that have filled my mind these past few months, it wasn’t “will everything be ok?” “I have so much to do?” “How will I get everything done?” and other thoughts that are more worries and concerns than anything else. No, this night the thoughts that filled my mind were imagining the apartment we are moving to, how it would have been long ago. Perhaps the original inhabitants liked to entertain friends, perhaps not. Perhaps they were a young couple, who dreamed of having one of the bedrooms as a baby’s nursery, cooing and doting over their little one dressed in clothes from a by-gone era. Then another thought entered my mind, perhaps it was indeed a young couple, perhaps that couple was József and his wife. Perhaps the main room had a small piano in the corner that his wife liked to play. Next to the piano, perhaps there was an old but well-loved violin, something that was passed down from father to son. Perhaps József dreamed of one day passing this treasured instrument on to his own child, teaching them to love music as he did. Then it struck me, I was well and truly back in touch with The Writer Within and it happened without consciously trying to do so. That night I went to sleep happy and content, knowing that whatever worries and problems would come next, that something in my life was now right again.

And now I must leave, because despite being back in touch with The Writer Within, I still have that last pesky assignment to get out of the way.

So until next week, enjoy,

-KK

© Katherine A. Kovács and The Writer Within, (2013-2015). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Katherine A. Kovács and The Writer Within with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.